Art Walk Los Angeles - August 2012

I stopped by The Last Book Store to visit with my old friend Brady Westwater, before exploring the fares offered by the artist's throughout Spring Street and numerous galleries that fill the voids of once vacant store fronts. Mr. Westwater is the historian for downtown Los Angeles, and even after meeting Brady forty or fifty times, he's not good recognizing anyone by face. Knowing this I always greet him with a hello Brady, and he always asks? "You look familiar", but once you tell him your name he knows exactly whom you are. I asked Brady about the music on the first floor, and he was a bit angry when he said it was not being allowed due to the problems that occurred in July. To learn more regarding Brady's feelings about Occupy Los Angeles read his blog post below this post.

The police presence was extremely heavy and increased as the night progressed, yet the men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department were very friendly, compared to the July Art Walk. I mentioned on Facebook that I feared the LAPD at the July Art Walk much more than Occupy LA, and heard this from many others as well. One reader questioned why I feared the police? You had to be there to feel the tension and hostility to understand why many felt uneasy with the heavy police presence. I stayed in contact with friends as I departed for a fund raiser about 8pm, and she reported no arrests or problems tonight.

As I dined on some fine Mexican food at Ensenada Restaurant a young man from Occupy LA chalked the sidewalk in front of me, using a stencil. He stopped every fifty feet and repeated the process, which was quickly washed away by a city worker with a pressurized hose from the back of his truck.